Book Image

Oracle Linux Cookbook

By : Erik Benner, Erik B. Thomsen, Jonathan Spindel
Book Image

Oracle Linux Cookbook

By: Erik Benner, Erik B. Thomsen, Jonathan Spindel

Overview of this book

Discover the power of Oracle Linux 8, the free and enterprise-grade Linux distribution designed for use in any environment, with this recipe-style book. Starting with instructions on how to obtain Oracle Linux for both X86 and ARM-based platforms, this book walks you through various installation methods, from running it as a Windows service to installing it on a Raspberry Pi. It unravels advanced topics such as system upgrades using Leapp for major version transitions and using a PXE server and kickstart files for more advanced installations. The book then delves into swapping kernels to take advantage of Oracle’s UEK, exploring boot options, managing software with DNF, and achieving high availability. Detailed recipes involving security topics will assist with tasks such as data encryption, both at rest and in motion. For developers, it offers guidance on building RPM files, using Docker and Podman in a containerized environment, working with AppStreams, and more. For large-scale deployments, the book introduces Oracle Linux Automation Manager for enterprise-level Ansible utilization, from setting up the Ansible server to basic playbook writing. Finally, you’ll discover strategies for cloud migration. By the end of this book, you’ll possess a comprehensive toolkit that will elevate your skills as a Linux administrator.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Migrating from CentOS to Oracle Linux

The first question is why? Why are we talking about moving from CentOS to Oracle Linux?

Before we explain this, let’s chat a little bit about the surprise that IBM Red Hat dropped on the Linux community on December 8, 2020. CentOS as we know it is dead! It is > /dev/null.

On December 8th, 2020, CentOS (which is controlled by IBM Red Hat) announced the news: “CentOS Linux 8, as a rebuild of RHEL 8, will end at the end of 2021.” The 2021 date is eight years earlier than planned, with 2029 being the original published date for the end of development on the CentOS 8 distribution. This means if you have CentOS 8 and you want to continue using a stable and predictable release, then you need to make a change.

The CentOS team is “shifting focus from CentOS Linux, the rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), to CentOS Stream, which tracks just ahead of a current RHEL release.” Remember Fedora, where new...